The Rainbow

D H Lawrence
I was disappointed by this book. Parts of it were good, specifically, the
descriptions of some of the complexities of our nature: conflicting
emotions, opposing motivations, the inseparability of attraction and
repulsion, recurrent feelings of dissatisfaction no matter how we live.
However, while he identifies some interesting aspects of the relationships
between the sexes, I do not like the opaque ways in which he describes
them. I thought the prose was ponderous and repetitive: what could be
said in two sentences took him two pages. Very often, I thought, it was
words for words sake. Worse still, the language was often poetical and
often mystical: one is left to guess at his meaning. The book is peppered
with passages that are little better than a jumble of words with no real
significance. The words get in the way of the story.
It was reminiscent of reading Freud, in that Lawrence seems to infuse sex
into everything. But I found his over-the-top earthiness comical. For
example, at the end of Chapter 2, a description of Tom Brangwens
reactions to his wifes labour pains includes his bowels were glad. I
suppose this was just a gimmick for its time.
Overall I found the book dull; in fact, so dull that I was unable to continue
with it for lengthy periods, having to break off every ten or twenty pages
(sometimes fewer). I finally gave up at the top of p.125; but as that was
more than a quarter of the way through the book, I thought I did well.
Danny Frederick